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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24899392">The Glim Reaper</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLillie/pseuds/TheLillie'>TheLillie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Adventure Zone (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Afterlife, Canonical Character Death, Everyone is Bisexual, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, STRAP IN FOLKS, Slow Burn, as slow as i can manage with my impatient ass we'll see, except taako he's still gay, that's all later though this is a slow buuuuuuurn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:22:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,446</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24899392</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLillie/pseuds/TheLillie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Glim, like glimmering, instead of grim, get it? Because all things considered he’s a sparkling ray of sunshine in this dark friggin’ afterlife.</em><br/>--<br/>Kravitz sighs, and both the accent and his stiff demeanor evaporate in tandem. “Okay, yeah, this is more a friendship favor than work, anyway. But I did get the Raven Queen’s blessing for this. Apparently She thinks you’re cute.”<br/>“Really? Cute like a pet, or cute like a crush?”<br/>“Um—”<br/>“If I sent a paper airplane to the Eternal Stockade with ‘hey, I think you’re Goth GF Goals xoxo’ written on it, would the Raven Queen blush?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Julia Burnsides/Magnus Burnsides/Kravitz, Magnus Burnsides/Kravitz/Taako, why don't we all marry each other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. there’s only two genders, jocks and goths, and i wanna bone both</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Julia Waxmen lies in the grass and stares at the sky. This is in and of itself a rebellious act—the governance has been trying to privatize all the greenery in the city, charging all kinds of taxes and fees for loiterers and lackadaisies. Kalen can just<em> try </em> to take this little park from her. She'd rip him limb from limb for the sake of this grass.</p><p>Rebellion, though, is on the back of her mind right now. On the front is the fact that Magnus Burnsides is lying next to her.</p><p>He doesn't seem to be thinking about grass or rebellion or anything at all, really—just staring upward at the peach and salmon and lavender that the sunset's painted, at the boundless eternity floating above them. He's always had a weakness for a pretty sunset. And she's always had a weakness for watching him watch it, for seeing the sky match the tawny roses in his cheeks, for counting the stars that just start to peek out and be reflected in his deep brown eyes.</p><p>She rolls slightly to lean over his chest, her arms on either side of him, her dark curly hair falling like willow vines around his face. His focus snaps to her, and he grins.</p><p>“Hey, c'mon, I'm watching the sky here!” he ribs, lightly poking her in the belly. “This is like—you're standing in front of the TV during the big game, only worse, cus it's the <em> sky.” </em></p><p>She has no idea what a TV is, but she's far too accustomed to all the weird and inexplicable little details around Magnus to be bothered. “The sky is still gonna be here every night.”</p><p>“Yeah, but it doesn't get all purple and pretty like this every night—”</p><p>“And I don't get to be right here with you like this every night.”</p><p>“You—” He stops, and his smile softens. “Yeah. Okay. Fair.”</p><p>She kisses him. And for a second it feels like she's about to float away, disappear right up into that pretty purple, but then his hands are on her hips and she's anchored.</p><p>“You will,” he says, soft but fervent, his low voice husky with emotion. “The moment this is all over, I'm gonna marry you, and then you'll have me right here like this forever.”</p><p>“Is that a promise?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>He kisses her now. She savors it.</p><p>When they finally pull apart, she places a finger to his lips. “Hey, I want you to promise me something else. And just—hear me out, cus I know you're gonna want to argue, and I need you to not.”</p><p>Magnus furrows his brow, concerned, but when she frees his mouth he keeps quiet. </p><p>“If somehow all of this goes wrong, and if…“ She bites her lip. “If I don't make it through. Promise me that whoever you do marry is super cool and into women so all three of us can hook up in the afterlife.”</p><p>Magnus stays silent for a moment, searching her expression. Her lips tighten.</p><p>He shakes his head.</p><p>“I could never love anyone as much as you,” he whispers.</p><p>And Julia ticks her tongue against the back of her teeth. “Well, tough, then, cus if you die first I'm going after Enna Brookwood.”</p><p>Magnus laughs and throws his arms up around her in a tackling hug, and she squeals as he wrestles her to the ground with a playfully indignant list of everything he has that Enna Brookwood doesn't, and a promise that even if he doesn't outlive Julia, he's sure as hell gonna outlive that dumb emo <em> Enna Brookwood. </em>And Julia is very fond of Enna Brookwood, but right now all she sees and ever wants to see is Magnus.</p>
<hr/><p>Julia Burnsides sees fire, and then nothing.</p><p>And then she realizes the nothing isn't just nothing—it's darkness. It's tangible, moving darkness, like thick dark viscous water; a sea she's submerged in. She doesn't swim, and she doesn't kick for a surface and try to breathe—she doesn't breathe. She couldn't if she tried. But she doesn't know how to try, she doesn't even know how to know. She doesn't know anything. Not what's happening, not where she is, not who she is. She floats along in the still current, for a long, long time.</p><p>And it seems like the darkness is as dark as it can get, but then it's black. It's covered by a black sheen, trapping, suffocating, <em> eating— </em></p><p>And then there's an explosion of blue and green light and music and words and oh my god, Magnus, Magnus, Magnus—</p><p>And then she's pulled from the water by a cold but delicate hand, and she steps onto land, and she comes to herself piece by piece. Her name, her identity, her past, her family, her home. Her father. Her Magnus.</p><p>And her death.</p><p>The cold hand is still holding hers, and it belongs to a handsome man in a sleek suit, with dark hair pulled back in a cluster of braids and decorated with black feathers.</p><p>“Hello, Mrs. Burnsides,” he says, all cordial Cockney curtness. “How are you feeling?”</p><p>Julia raises an eyebrow. “Do you mean physically, or—I'm dead. I feel dead. But I also have a lot of emotions going through me, regarding…my husband I guess being an alien superhero from another dimension, or something?”</p><p>“Yes, maybe that was—the wrong question to ask.” The man shifts his weight from foot to foot, nervous. “Is there...can I get you anything?”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“I don't know. I didn't really think this through.” </p><p>He glances down, and realizes he’s still holding her hand, and abruptly drops it.</p><p>“Magnus said to tell you he loves you,” he says.</p><p>Julia brightens a little. “You know him? You can talk to him from here? Can I talk to him?”</p><p>“Erm—” He winces. “Not exactly. Geez, I’m really screwing this all up—oh, shit, and I forgot to even introduce myself.” He clears his throat and adjusts his jacket and squares his shoulders. “Kravitz, bounty hunter for the Raven Queen, tasked to act as Her proxy in maintaining the balance of life and death. I’m―I’m a good friend of Magnus. And as I myself am technically neither alive nor dead, I can travel more or less freely between the Prime Material Plane and the Astral Plane. You, however, are...dead, and thus...can’t.”</p><p>“You kinda lost your accent there in the middle.”</p><p>Kravitz sighs, and both the accent and his stiff demeanor evaporate in tandem. “Okay, yeah, this is more a friendship favor than work, anyway. But I did get the Raven Queen’s blessing for this. Apparently She thinks you’re cute.”</p><p>“Really? Cute like a pet, or cute like a crush?”</p><p>“Um—”</p><p>“If I sent a paper airplane to the Eternal Stockade with ‘hey, I think you’re Goth GF Goals xoxo’ written on it, would the Raven Queen blush?”</p><p>“I mean, She doesn’t really have blood, or—technically much of a face, either—” He shakes his head, waving the distraction away like flies. “God, I can see why you and Magnus got along so well. I keep trying to have a serious sincere moment here and you keep making jokes.”</p><p>“I’m sorry. The floor is yours.”</p><p>She bows a little, dramatically, and Kravitz narrows his eyes at her. But then he loosens, and breathes into the speech he’s been preparing.</p><p>“Julia, you and your husband earned a happy ending that was stolen from you far too soon. You rightfully fought and sacrificed and won, and deserved to savor that victory, and have a long, happy life together. And...while I can't bring you back to life, I can give you this.”</p><p>He waves his hand to something behind Julia. She turns to see a massive shape taking form on this island—a picturesque building, wooden and warm, exactly as she remembered it. A perfect life-sized model of their Raven's Roost home, complete with a flower-dotted lawn and the sign for the Hammer &amp; Tongs. She holds a hand to her mouth, eyes pricking with tears.</p><p>“You can stay here. With him, after he dies,” Kravitz says. “Not forever, but...for as long as you need.”</p><p>She steps forward, up onto the front steps of this ghost of her home. She lays a hand on the doorway, gently runs it down the wood. It feels as solid as reality. But she doesn’t cross over the threshold.</p><p>Instead, she steps back and looks at Kravitz.</p><p>“You asked if you could get me anything,” she says. “Does that mean <em> anything?” </em></p><p>“Uh―within reason, I guess.”</p><p>“Trees?” she entreats. “Some nice, sturdy cedar―nope, pine. Actually, you know what? Surprise me. Gimme an assortment. And a good heavy axe.”</p><p>“I c―I can get you some wood if you want. Just some, like, two-by-fours.”</p><p>“No. I wanna do this from scratch.” She rubs her hands together, then smooths down her apron. “I want Magnus to have a good life. A good, long, happy life. But I don’t want to just be sitting here twiddling my thumbs while I wait for him.” </p><p>She grins. Kravitz smirks, and waves his hand again, and the Hammer &amp; Tongs is replaced by a dark but healthy copse of conifers. A bright red axe, clean and rustic, materializes in his grip, and he holds it out.</p><p>“Better get to work, then,” he says.</p><p>Julia takes the axe with both hands, and swings it onto her shoulder.</p>
<hr/><p>The next time Kravitz visits, Julia has stocked up a nice pile of timber and is now trying to figure out the best way to shape it. She stands up straight and wipes sweat from her forehead with the back of her arm―whatever this form is, it's different from a physical body, but she's grateful for the approximations of life it can fabricate. It's a little weird when she thinks on it, to be grateful for sweat and splinters and muscle aches, but compared to the nothingness of floating in the lake…</p><p>She likes the reminder that she's here, that she's present. That she's herself.</p><p>“Hi,” Kravitz says, stepping into the beach and closing the glowing rift behind him. “Me again.”</p><p>“Can I have a saw?” Julia asks as her greeting. “I might need some nails and a hammer pretty soon, too.”</p><p>Kravitz puckers his lips a little in a pout, but pulls a hand saw from the depths of his dark cloak, a matching red to her axe. Julia takes it with a grin and a curtsy of thanks. </p><p>The dress she died in isn't super ideal for this kind of work, but she manages. Before, she just had to roll up her sleeves, then to remove the undershirt altogether and work in just her pinafore and apron; now she needs a little more free leg room. She bites her tongue and girds up her loins, and lifts one leg onto a small fallen log to get some extra leverage on the log she's about to saw crosswise.</p><p>Kravitz clears his throat. She glances at him. There's a light shine in his cheeks.</p><p>“See anything you like?” Julia teases, rolling her bare shoulder.</p><p>“I have something for you.” He digs into his cloak again, this time pulling out a brown folded envelope. “From Magnus.”</p><p>Immediately Julia drops both the saw and the smirk, and jumps down from the log. Kravitz hands her the envelope and she rips it open.</p><p>
  <em> To my darling wife, my love, my life, my angel, my dove, from your super cool hubbo. </em>
</p><p>She reads the opening slowly, with a soft smile; then scans across the body, and snorts. The snort quickly becomes a giggle that becomes a laugh.</p><p>The laugh becomes a wheeze and a squeal. She holds the paper to her chest and leans against her woodpile for support, doubling over and almost screaming with laughter.</p><p>“What?” Kravitz asks. “What’d he write?”</p><p>Julia shakes her head, eyes welling up with tears. “I c―it’s too pers―“ She struggles to form the words through her fits. “It’s too personal, I can’t―“</p><p>“Oh, come on, I hate missing out on a good Magnus goof.” Kravitz slides toward her and tries to peer over her shoulder. “What does it say?”</p><p>“No!” She crumples the paper sideways in her hands like an accordion. It’s probably a good thing she’s already dead, because she’s laughing way too hard to breathe now. She falls to her knees, tears streaming down her face. Her cackling can definitely be heard all throughout the Eternal Stockade. Heck, pretty soon she’d probably be able to be heard on the Prime Material Plane.</p><p>“Come on!” Kravitz reaches for the letter, and Julia snatches it away. He’s trying to be angry about it, but it’s hard not to smile along with her, hard not to laugh even without knowing the joke. He manages to get a hold on her arm, and for a second they wrestle. She doesn’t seem to mind the cold of his skin.</p><p>She’s prostrate on her stomach on the ground and gives up, her laughter dissolved into happy sobs of exhaustion. Kravitz is kneeling with a leg on each side of her back and triumphantly seizes the paper.</p><p>“To my darling blah blah, from your husband, according to all kn―“</p><p>He stops, all his laughter immediately vanishing. He stares into the middle distance, eyes looking deader than usual. Julia’s silently shaking.</p><p>“According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly,” he recites in a monotone. “That’s―yeah, he’s got the entire script here. I am so disappointed.”</p><p>Julia pushes him off her back and rolls over, giggling.</p><p>“I am―Julia? I am so disappointed in the both of you,” Kravitz emphasizes. “This is cheap. Magnus can do so much better.”</p><p>“No, he can’t!” Julia squeaks. “Nobody can! This is <em> the </em>highest form of humor ever.”</p><p>“When I go back I’m telling him you were just as unimpressed as I am. I am not going to reward him for this.” He tosses the crinkled paper at Julia.</p><p>She catches it and sits up. Finally able to breathe without exploding into more giggles, she smooths the paper out against her lap. For a few moments she just stares at it, tracing the lines of his bold, thick handwriting with her eyes, each letter a confident declaration of its own. She lifts the paper to her face. It still smells like him, his hands, his touch.</p><p>“Should I leave you and the paper alone?”</p><p>It sounds like a joke, but when she glances up Kravitz looks completely serious. Soft and concerned. Considerate.</p><p>She tucks the letter into a pocket of her apron and pushes to her feet. “Can you give Magnus something from me when you go back?”</p><p>“I’m not gonna give him any validation for that horrible, horrible joke.”</p><p>“Tell any of his crewmates about it, then. They’ll validate him.” Julia smirks, then shakes her head a little. “Nah. Just this.”</p><p>She puts her hands on his shoulders and bends to kiss his cheek. Kravitz’s shoulders droop in surprise.</p><p>“I, um―“ He clears his throat as she pulls away. His cheeks are shining again, almost glowing―she guesses this is his version of a blush. “I mean, not to quote Toy Story or anything, right after―y’now, this terrible Bee Movie goof. Keeping up a theme, I guess. But―I don’t think it’ll mean as much coming from me.”</p><p>Julia lightly pinches his earlobe between thumb and finger. “It’ll mean enough.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>ch 2: "text your boyfriend 'I want a baby' and screenshot the response" will be coming.....eventually</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. text your boyfriend “I want a baby” and screenshot the response</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Magnus leaves for the craftsmans' showcase, and Julia lasts all of two hours before her father has to physically pull her back from going after him. And she's not far enough along to show at all yet, but her hormones are bouncing plenty, and she bursts into tears. In hindsight she'll find this wailing comical, but right now she sees Steven stifle a snort and she punches him hard on the arm. He quietly shuffles her to her room, and she pulls all the blankets and pillows from Magnus's side of the bed and wraps herself around them and sobs into them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's only a three-week trip, but it's the longest they'll have ever been apart since they met, and it's right when she's sure she'll need him the most. She doesn't know how she's going to survive his absence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she wakes up the next morning, all the crying has cleared her head a little, but she's still mad at Steven for laughing at her pain. She stays in bed and pouts and manages to be mad at Magnus, too, for leaving. Finally, the morning after that, the crankiness has worn her out, and she tiredly apologizes to her father for hitting him. He laughs and forgives her. He's sure there's going to be a lot more hitting from here on in, but he's going to wait patiently for Magnus to return and share the load.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The third morning, she doesn't wake up.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Time doesn’t pass for her now like it did in life. The Astral Plane doesn’t have a sun or stars, or clocks to measure with; she doesn’t get hungry or thirsty or tired. But sometimes she gets bored of working on the cabin, and she asks Kravitz for a book or some wine or to play a game with her. And sometimes they just sit, and talk, and sometimes she sits and waits for him. She’s officially decided that she likes him. He’s only said that he’s good friends with Magnus, but if it turned out he was something a little different, she doesn’t think she’d mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One day Kravitz comes to the island to find her sitting on the beach, staring into space—not out at the Stockade, but at the lake itself. He sits silently beside her. She’s been crying a little, but not for a while now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And they sit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t suppose there’d,” she says after a moment, and then she sighs, long and slow and as worn down as an incorporea can be. Worn by watching, waiting, wishing. “Be any sort of...Burnsides baby in there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kravitz jolts a little and looks at her. He lays a hand on her shoulder, hesitant and light. “Julia, were you…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did Magnus—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He knew.” She sniffs and shakes her head, grinning darkly. “That damn chair that—that he took to the showcase. A rocking chair, with lavender. It was gonna be for me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It...saved his life,” Kravitz says softly. “If he’d been in Raven’s Roost that day—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know. And I’m grateful for that. But...the whole time I was there without him, I sort of wished the chair hadn’t been that good. Because then he would've still been there with me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her voice doesn't quite crack, but trails off into silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kravitz opens his mouth, like he's going to attempt some more arguments of comfort, but then closes it. He scooches closer to Julia and unfurls his cloak out behind her, offering to wrap her up like a child in a blanket.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She leans into his side and accepts the embrace. She doesn't cry anymore, but is grateful that his cool, solid shoulder is there as a willing option.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>It's not long after that that she gains a pair of new visitors.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Juliaaaaaa!” sings a gorgeous elf woman, tan and blonde and freckled, prancing in through a rift much like Kravitz's. “Conspire with us!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She's followed by a cozy-looking human man in jeans and glasses, the kind of guy who would probably give fantastic hugs and terrible advice. Suddenly Julia recognizes them from the voidfish song; they must recognize her from Magnus and Kravitz's stories. Apparently joining the Raven Queen’s ranks is their reward for saving reality―well, half reward, half leash. Can’t quite punish them for being liches, but can definitely keep an eye on them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Julia’s working on the back of what will eventually a bench to rest on what will eventually be the front porch of the cabin. Lup flutters over and perches beside Julia’s work, apparently unfazed by a seat full of sawdust. “So the boss man overheard Barold blabbing about our plan to steal a sacrificial hell baby from the last zombie cult we disbanded, so now that plot's been nixed—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But then </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> overheard </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> blabbing about you,” Barry says, sidling up beside his wife. “So now we got a partner in crime.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s brainstorm.” Lup excitedly drums her fingertips on her lap. “Best way for us all to acquire hell babies without Krav getting mad. On your mark, get set, go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Julia steps back, arms folded across her chest. “I’m not going to help you commit necromantic crimes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Both liches sigh in unison. “Dammit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Smiling, Julia gently shoos Lup off her bench; Lup obediently hops down and leans on Barry instead. It’s familiar to Julia, the way the two shift their weight in tandem, the way one’s personal space becomes both’s, the way their bodies adjust and accommodate each other perfectly. It’s like a dance she’s seen a thousand times, almost enough to know the steps herself. Part of it’s from the power of the voidfish song, but part of it’s just because she knows Magnus loves them so well. She can see parts of him in each of them and in both of them together. And any friend of Magnus’s is a friend of hers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And</span>
  </em>
  <span> and, they’re not just friends―they’re his family. All of them, Barry and Lup and Lucretia and Davenport and Merle and Taako. Taako specially, perhaps. Not </span>
  <em>
    <span>e</span></em><span>specially, but specially.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Julia sucks in a breath and whips out her whittling knife. The back of this bench ain’t gonna embellish itself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How much does Kravitz talk about me?” she asks as she works.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lup blows a short raspberry. “Eh, nothin’ much to us, but he keeps Mango pretty up-to-date on your goings-on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think he’s keeping this a surprise,” Barry says, knocking lightly on the nearest beam of the cabin’s developing frame.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah, whatever you’re building here, Kravitz has deffo not said anything about it,” Lup affirms. “And can I just say, it looks sick, Maggie’s gonna lose it, and as I say it out loud I realize it sounds kinda bad but I promise it’s good. It looks very nice.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re too kind,” Julia grins. “You all still hang out together, then? Everyone from the Starblaster?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Couldn't get rid of 'em if we tried,” Barry says. “You'd think that after a hundred years of just us they'd wanna interact with literally anyone else.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We do too interact with anyone else! We've got tons of new pals!” Lup scolds him, then immediately gasps and turns back to Julia. “Oh-em-gee, has Krav told you about Angus yet? He is literally the most precious thing in the world. Every time I see him I just wanna squeeze him til his eyeballs pop right out of his skull.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Barry ticks his tongue. “Gross.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re gross.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, Barry’s right,” Julia laughs. “That was just a little too much detail. You just barely stepped over the line into gross territory.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, just―you didn’t have to say ‘balls’ and ‘skull’ there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lup gasps again, overdramatically scandalized, throwing an arm up to her forehead like she’s about to swoon. “I can’t believe I’m being betrayed by not only the love of my existence, but also my own sister-in-law that I just met that isn’t actually related to me at all. Geez. I gotta tell you about Angus.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So she tells her about Angus McDonald, the communally adopted boy detective who’s got more intelligence points than all of them combined, and then she tells her about Merle’s kids who are almost as cute as Angus, and then about local sickeningly-perfect fiancees Carey &amp; Killian who are cute in a different way, and then about Johann who they totally wanted to join their fun little reaper squad but apparently he’s very content with how thoroughly his life’s work has been completed and wants to enjoy his eternal peaceful retirement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she talks, Julia quietly hands her tools and wood, and Lup seamlessly follows her directions. Barry smiles and nods as Julia beckons him over to a particularly heavy beam, and together they lift it onto their shoulders.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ooh, how about instead of death crimes, we do </span>
  <em>
    <span>time </span>
  </em>
  <span>crimes?” Lup continues to chatter, dropping the nails she’d been holding in her mouth. “Go back in time to when Angus was a baby and just adopt him early! Win-win!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Won’t we get, uh, Lady Istus on our case, then?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But time crimes, though, Barry, come on. Babe, </span>
  <em>
    <span>time crimes.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And yeah, Julia knows that the whole point of building the cabin herself is to pass the time until Magnus arrives, and having other people help her is gonna make that go faster. But it’s nice to be a little less alone.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Her fourth visitor comes alongside the previous three, a full squad waltzing onto her island with loud laughter and conversation and the smell of seawater. Julia pauses and drinks in a deep breath. She never thought she would miss that smell so much.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And like, obviously everybody wants a piece of that action and they all look pretty good with it, but come on! It's </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> sword! </span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>bought it!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He comes into view, and he's familiar―but not too familiar. He's different from how he was in the song; he's older, not standing as tall, not shining as bright. He's talking and smiling just as bold as ever, though. His arm is wound through his sister's.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kravitz says something in response to Taako's happy complaining, but Julia's not listening, and Taako sees her and goes still. With a snap of his fingers and a ripple of magic, he changes―his shoulders square, his cheekbones lift, his lips pinken, his lashes lengthen. Side by side, he and Lup shimmer like a pride parade.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, ahoy,” he says. “I do not know you. I'm, uh―sorry, I'm not quite comfy being all hashtag-no-makeup-no-filter around people I don't know yet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi.” Julia waves a little. “I'm―I'm Julia.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hail and well met. I―Julia. Do I know you? That name is so familiar. Do I know someone named Julia?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kravitz gently nudges Taako's hand with his own. “Magnus's wife.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yeahhh, Julia. Damn. Wow. The Julia, in the flesh.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, not really flesh, cus she's essentially a ghost in this form,” Barry says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taako's eyes widen and his arms snap to his side. “Wait, are we in the Astral Plane right now?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just a quick stop on the way home,” Kravitz says casually. “Barry left his lactaid caplets in the Stockade last—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taako cuts him off with a scream and throws the end of Lup's raven-feather cloak over his face. “I can't be here! I'm an alive boy!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Taako, it's―”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope! Nope! Take me home! Take me home take me home take me home—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I've got him,” Lup sighs. “Babe, if it turns out your nerd pills aren't where you left them, I'll just put more on the grocery list.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The twins vanish. Barry gives Julia a flat smile of sympathy and disappears as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Julia silently blinks and puffs out her cheeks, lips tight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Kravitz winces. “That was...awkward.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She blows out the air in her cheeks with a buzz of her lips. “No, yeah, it’s fine, it’s just—” She almost mimics Taako’s voice. “Damn. Wow. </span>
  <em>
    <span>The </span>
  </em>
  <span>Taako, from TV. In the flesh.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He is a bit of...a lot to process, when you first meet him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not just that, though, it’s―it’s legit awkward. It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>proper </span>
  </em>
  <span>awkward.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How so?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Julia shuts her mouth and pivots on her heel, back to work. She’s been blabbering without thinking. She doesn’t mean it. She grips her adze tight and hacks a notch deep into the beam above her head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not awkward. It’s totally not. It’s a hundred percent fine. Taako has done nothing wrong and she has absolutely no problem with him and they’d probably get along great if they ever had time to really get to know each other. Which...given his apparent lack of enthusiasm to follow in his sister’s undead footsteps, they probably never would.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is...is it because he and Magnus—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>THUNK.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The adze lodges in and sticks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It is. Yeah,” she confesses, still not turning around to face him. “And it's not―I don't think I'm jealous, y'know? It’s not like they were ever Barry-and-Lup level, or really even Merle-and-Davenport level, but—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She exhales.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They had each other for over a hundred years, and I had him for less than six. And it’s just…I don’t know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her mouth falls shut again. What more can she say? How else can she justify the hard, ugly knot in her gut? It’s almost small enough to ignore, but it’s dense and it’s uncomfortable and she doesn’t know how to make it go away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shakes her head and tugs out the adze. “I just miss Magnus. It’s fine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kravitz is silent as Julia stoically gets back to work, each movement jerky and abrupt. For a second she assumes he’s disappeared off to his home plane without a goodbye.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then he says, “I’m going to go check on Barry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Julia feels the faintest brush of wind from the swoosh of his cloak on her back, and Kravitz is gone.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>It’s almost a fifth visitor that he brings back with him a long while later, wrapped tight in his cloak as he stumbles onto the beach and clumsily skips across the grass. Julia is at the back of the cabin's skeleton, and Kravitz almost trips over the empty doorway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you’re rushin' for a restroom, I haven't built one yet,” Julia says. “You'll have to go in the woods.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kravitz skids to a stop and swallows his panting. His face is bright with exertion and embarrassment as he stands up straight and opens his cloak.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Here,” he says in a sharp whisper. “I, uh, I-i didn't technically get the Queen's approval on this, but Magnus is pretty much inconsolable and the only way I could get him to calm down was if I promised to bring this to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In his hand is a glass sphere full of water, coated with moss and tiny reeds along the bottom, and in the water a little orange goldfish is happily swimming back and forth. Julia softly gasps and drops her saw, immediately holding out her hands for the fish.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“His name is Steven,” Kravitz says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Julia’s jaw drops. “Whaaat? Magnus named him that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s focusing on the fish, gently tapping the side of the glass and grinning when he swims up to try to kiss her finger; in her peripheral vision she sees Kravitz smiling almost as wide as her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s honestly a miracle he lasted as long as he did, just living off that―that little mini-ecosystem, mini-terrarium going on there. Fish in balls that small usually go belly-up after, like, a day. He almost made it to two and a half years. But then, of course, even for magical fish, the inevitable comes in th—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With the ball tucked snugly into her elbow, Julia snatches Kravitz into a crushing one-armed hug, burying her face in his hair. Kravitz goes rigid. Julia doesn’t have to look to know she’s hugging bones right now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But then he relaxes, and hugs back, tight with both arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Julia says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kravitz scoffs a little, sheepishly dismissive. “It’s just a favor. It’s―it’s really more for my own benefit, honestly, his crying was bumming me out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh-huh,” Julia teases, swaying him back and forth. “Admit it. You liiiiiike us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course I do. You’re both good buds. You’re my good, good pals.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You like me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought...I th-thought you might like to have something to take care of. I know it obviously doesn’t compare to what you’ve lost, but it’s...well, he’s something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Julia’s smile softens. She squeezes Kravitz tighter, eyes clamping shut. His cool grim-reaper cloak is probably pretty durable, but she still doesn’t wanna risk leaving teardrops on it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally he has to get back to work, and for the first time, Julia isn’t left alone when he leaves. She’s got a permanent ghost buddy now―a roommate. A little guy to take care of. A companion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She presses her nose to the globe and nuzzles it, and Goldfish Steven nuzzles back. When Kravitz comes back, she’s gonna ask him for some plate glass and colorful gravel, and build this baby a real proper tank.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>next chapter will probably be called "we’re probs all thinking of the same hozier song rn" unless i change my mind and it will also probably come even slower than this chapter came</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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